The Apprentice 2 Finale: Three Trumptastic Hours

Trump allows Jen to speak first. She says that she has been at the top of every class and every organization she’s worked for, which she doesn’t think Kelly has done. She says she has a quiet leadership style. She came up with the name of their car in the toy task, helped choose the ice cream flavor, did a great job at QVC, washed dogs, and defended underdog Stacie. She has strong integrity and will stand up for the oppressed. Trump asks Jennifer which is a better school – Harvard and Princeton or West Point. Jen says that her schools are the best in the world.

Kelly says that he has the experience and consistency that Trump needs. West Point trains leaders and, Kelly says, his military experience does transfer well to the business world. He can both follow and lead. And, after finishing with the military, he earned his JD and MBA and applied his knowledge to several start-ups. Trump asks Kelly whose college is best. Kelly says that he respects Harvard and Princeton. Really, the which school is better thing is kind of a dumb question. All three are excellent schools, and it really doesn’t make sense to compare the three of them. Kelly concludes by saying that Trump surrounds himself with winners, and that he has a better record on the tasks.

Jennifer says her record wasn’t as good because of the petty bickering on the women’s team. She says she maintained her integrity and was never sent to the final boardroom. Kelly agrees that Jen is impressive in the boardroom. She spits that she is equally impressive in her real life. Kelly says that he stepped up to lead every chance he got. Trump tries to get the two to say they hate each other, but neither of them takes the bait. Finally, Trump declares, “It’s time.”

Freaking finally. There is no reason this thing should have been drawn out over three hours, and I’m willing to bet lots of people tuned out for at least part of this.

Trump says that Jennifer was a strong debater, but had a losing record and was unpopular. He’s still not sure how Kelly will be as a leader. But, Trump says, Jen is fired. Kelly, you’re hired.

Yay! It’s absolutely the right choice. Trump invites his newest executive to join him, Carolyn, and George at the big table. Trump teases him about holding Carolyn’s chair for her.

The Ojays perform the theme song live. Oh, come on! Let’s get this show on the road!

Kelly has the choice of two jobs. The first job is working on the Trump International Tower in Las Vegas. It will be a 64 story building combining luxury hotel rooms and luxury condos. The second choice is the Trump Place land development in New York, which spans 13 city blocks and includes a 21 acre park. After the commercials, Kelly chooses the New York project so he can work more closely with Trump. Trump declares, “I am in love with your answer.”

Regis says that the candidates were under a lot of pressure, which means it must be time for a clip montage. Stacie J. does her thing with the Magic 8 Ball. Elizabeth bursts into tears during the restaurant task. Maria freaks out during the Levi’s shoot. And finally, Elizabeth’s team tries to mutiny against her.

Trump asks Stacie about the 8 Ball. Stacie says that she was just trying to have some fun, and that everyone else was playing with the 8 Ball, too. Trump tells her that she is terrific. Next, he asks Jennifer C. what she has to say. Jennifer C. says she has a lot to say, but then there’s a long pause where she finds that maybe she doesn’t. She says she regrets some of the things she said and that she is not a hurtful or prejudiced person.

Next, Regis promotes the upcoming show The Contender with Sugar Ray Leonard, and I tune out. You are wasting my time, people! I could be in bed by now.

Next, remember all of the fights? In case you don’t, we see clips of Elizabeth and Maria arguing about the marketing budget for the Crest task, Jennifer C. clashing with Stacy after blaming the restaurant loss on a couple of old Jewish ladies, and Raj arguing with John about whether or not they could have breakfast before the ice cream task. Finally, Jennifer and Sandy argue on either side of a bewildered Andy in the boardroom. Andy says he thinks Jennifer and Sandy should be on The Contender. Both women are impressive, and he doesn’t mind losing to them.

Ah, and then there was Raj, the man who loved the ladies. During the tennis reward, Raj hits on Anna Kournikova. Then, when he gets fired, he tries to get Robin’s phone number, which was fabulous. In the audience, Robin admits that the two of them went out for coffee together. Go, Raj!

Regis tells us that Genworth raised $21,000 for charity and donated an additional $250,000.

But enough charity. Let’s talk sex in the Sex Sells montage. In the restaurant task, Chris sends John, the cutest guy, to talk to a table of gay men. Jen and Sandy don matching tank tops and mini skirts to sell M&M’s. And Ivana drops her skirt on the streets of New York.

Regis asks Ivana why, if she refused to use the “sex sells” strategy at the beginning, she decided to drop her skirt. Ivana claims, “I’m a spontaneous person,” and tries to explain that it wasn’t underwear, but a swimsuit bottom. She hopes it won’t be the only thing she’s remembered for. Luckily for her, she’ll also be remembered for her incompetence, I’d say. Trump finally gets her to say she wouldn’t do it again.

Kevin says that as Ivana’s teammate on that task, he did appreciate that she went the extra mile to try to win. He adds, “But I did answer the phone shirtless, Mr. Trump.” Yes, you did, Kevin. And for that, we are grateful.

Everyone’s least favorite season 1 candidate Omarosa says that there is a double standard for male and female candidates on the show. Chris is called aggressive, but Pamela is called the “b-word.” She adds that Jen rocks. I can’t speak for everyone, but I thought Chris was far more obnoxious and difficult to work with than Pamela ever was. And I also think that the midriff baring suit that Omarosa is wearing is a poor fashion choice. Here's hoping that her invitation to the season 3 finale gets lost in the mail.

Season 3 of The Apprentice has already completed filming. This time around, Trump has divided up the initial teams differently: there is a team of people with advanced degrees that Trump calls the Book Smart. They’ll compete against a team of people without college diplomas who are Street Smart. That sounds interesting to me. The new season starts soon, January 20.

Trump congratulates both Kelly and Jennifer and sends Kelly to a limo headed for the after party. In his final interview, Kelly promises to prove that Trump made the right choice. He’s thrilled and gives a big, “YEAH!” at the end.

And that’s it for another season of The Apprentice. Kelly had been my pick to win for weeks, and I’m very happy that he did. He deserves it, for both doing well as project manager and for being unafraid to step up even when he wasn’t in charge. I would have liked to see him compete against Kevin or even Sandy over Jen, but I can’t argue with the results. I can argue, though, that there is no reason that the finale should have lasted for three hours. Two hours would have been more than enough time. And if they hadn’t dragged out Trump’s supposed decision for much of it, they might have had time to talk to more of the candidates. Last time we heard from everyone, even if it was only briefly. Here’s hoping that next time, we’ll get two hours of solid material, not reams of filler.

Thanks to everyone for reading. I’ve had a great time covering this show.

Betsy Wasser is the Associate Editor of Reality News Online. She can be reached with any comments at betsyw42@hotmail.com .